Alesis K2661 specifications 14-12, Src1 MWheel

Sampling and Live Mode

Live Mode

the pitch, the playback lags behind, and when you return the pitch to normal, the playback snaps back to the present—which means some of your audio literally disappears into the ether. If you bend the pitch down and hold it there for a while, eventually the buffer fills up and updates itself, and you will hear it snap forward in time, although the data playing will continue to be slowed down. Again, some of the audio disappears.

When you bend pitch upward, the K2661 plays buffered data from the input source, which enables the K2661 to “play ahead” of the input. You may hear some of the input data repeat when you release the pitch bend.

These details aside, all kinds of wonderful pitch effects are achievable. Here’s an example.

1.Start with Program 749 LiveMode Default.

2.Go to the PITCH page.

3.Assign LFO1 to Src1, with a depth of -200ct.

4.In order to keep the playback from constantly crossing above unity, set the Coarse parameter to -2ST.

Or try these settings:

Src1 MWheel

Depth -1200c

Src2 LFO1 (On the LFO page, set LFO1’s MnRate to .50Hz, MxRate to 20.00, and RateCt to Data.)

DptCtl MWheel

MinDpt 0ct

MaxDpt 1200ct

Sometimes the Live-mode audio will sound discontinuous as LFOs and the buffers get out of sync. You might be able to smooth out the rough spots by making another layer with no pitch alterations, and crossfading between the layers:

1.Duplicate the layer.

2.Clear all the settings on the PITCH page.

3.Go to the OUTPUT page and set Crossfade to MWhl on both layers.

4.On layer 1, set XFadeSense to Rvrs; on layer 2, set XFadeSense to Norm.

Now at the Mod Wheel extremes, you will hear only one layer or the other, while in the middle, you will hear a combination of the pitch-modulated signal and the unmodulated signal. By experimenting with FUNs, you can get more precise crossfades.

The program 744 LM Synth Sliders includes this kind of crossfade, tied to the Pitch Wheel, to implement a 3-layer crossfade. Moving the Pitch Wheel up fades to a layer which is bending the pitch up. The surprise is that moving the Pitch Wheel down bends the pitch down, then up again, crossfading to a layer that is playing back in reverse! Yes, reverse playback works with Live mode: on the KEYMAP page, set PlayBackMode to Rvrs.

14-12